More than two years after police say the man accused of shooting and killing University of Utah football player Aaron Lowe killed the cornerback outside a raucous house party in Salt Lake City, the man accused of fatally shooting University of Utah football player Aaron Lowe was killed Monday, more than two years after police said he killed the cornerback outside a raucous house party in Salt Lake City. Pleaded guilty to murder.
Buku Maut Buku, now 25, has pleaded guilty to the murder of Lowe and the attempted murder of the woman injured in the Sept. 26, 2021, shooting, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said. .
Police said after the soccer player asked Buku’s friend to move his car, a heated argument ensued and the suspect fired several shots at the two.
Witnesses watched in horror as Lowe, 21, and Fuamori Pomare, 20, lay bleeding on the ground as Bouk continued to fire at them, according to court documents. .
Buk is scheduled to be sentenced on April 29th and could face a minimum sentence of 15 years to life in Utah State Prison.
Instead of pleading guilty, the judge dismissed additional charges of obstruction of justice and possession of a weapon by a restricted person because he was already on probation.
“Full justice would mean that Mr. Rowe was alive and the other victim did not have to suffer lifelong injuries, but this conviction means that Mr. Rowe and the second victim did not have to live. I hope that his loved ones feel like they got some measure of justice,” Gill said Monday.
The sophomore cornerback’s death comes less than a year after teammate Ty Jordan died of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound on Christmas night in 2020.
Before playing at Utah State, the two were high school friends and football teammates in their hometown of Mesquite, Texas. Lowe changed his college uniform to Jordan’s No. 22 after the running back’s death and became the first recipient of a memorial scholarship established in his honor.
Roughly nine months after Jordan’s death, the Utes mourned their loss once again when an off-campus house party meant to celebrate a victory over Washington State turned violent.
Police said uninvited guests, including Buku, showed up at the private party and began causing a disturbance.
Lowe and Pomare tried to leave the party just after midnight, but found their car blocked by another vehicle.
During an argument with a group of men who refused to move their car, Buku crossed the street, grabbed a gun from another man and began firing, court documents state.
Lowe died at the scene. The Utah State Medical Examiner’s Office later recovered four bullets from his body, according to autopsy results.
Pomare suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the neck and chest and underwent emergency surgery, but survived.
Book, who was arrested in Draper in October of that year, was already on probation for two robberies, including one in which authorities say he robbed a father and daughter at gunpoint.
Salt Lake City police said at the time of his arrest in the shooting that Book had an “extensive violent criminal history” dating back to at least 2017.
